The Importance of Taking Time Off

March 7, 2018

Happy Wednesday! There’s currently a snowstorm happening outside my window. While it’s pretty to watch, I thought spring was going to come! As you can probably tell from the title, I wanted to talk about the importance of taking time off and to reevaluate priorities in your life. I was gone away from this blog for about a week or so and it really bothered me that I couldn’t fit in time to write a post or to go out and take pics, the time off from it was spent tending my other responsibilities. (( Yes, I did miss you guys! ))

I’ve learned a lot of things these past weeks from balancing work, school and doing what I love. There are only 24 hours in a day and lately, I’ve been finding that every single second is necessary for me. My to-do list is never ending and every time I cross off one thing, ten more pop up. I was stressing myself out and spreading myself too thin to the point where I was unable to dedicate 100% into everything I did. Every task I was doing, my mind was wandering elsewhere to think about all the things I have to do next. It’s exhausting.

I’m currently working part-time while being a full-time student, so balancing everything has been quite hard. There are endless projects from both sides in addition to wanting to work out, make homemade meals and see friends. Last week especially, I told myself to calm down, to let go of some things I needed to do and to really focus. This blog has become my baby and I’ve been getting super invested. I love connecting with other bloggers, to sit down write about my thoughts and to take photos to share with you all. But with all the other things going on in my life at the moment, I had to take a week break from it. And I was afraid to do that. I was afraid that if I took time to stop, engagement would stop and people would think I’m not consistent. I stopped being motivated to sit down and write about things I’m interested in. There were so many roadblocks and didn’t know where to go. It was something I had to do because I didn’t have enough time. I was forced to put it to the side to focus on other responsibilities.

And it turned out to be an amazing week of realizations. My growth didn’t stop, people were still checking in with me and pushing me along. I finished assignments on time, had enough sleep so I didn’t need coffee to function, and felt less stressful overall. Taking the time off from projects in your life to focus on others isn’t a bad thing to do. I’ve come to learn that it’s actually necessary for progress. The act of balancing our responsibilities sometimes call for putting some on the back burner for later. Know your priorities and go after those first. Not being able to accomplish everything doesn’t mean we aren’t capable or not superwoman/man enough. The ability to reevaluate in itself is enough to prove you’re on the right track.

It’s also about moving on from what went wrong. I didn’t fully prepare for my midterm exam that was yesterday….totally my fault in balancing my priorities. The feeling of being defeated and feeling as if I could have done better sucks! Looking at the answers the professors posted and knowing I did every single question wrong was disheartening to say the least. I tried to balance too many things and ultimately, my grades suffered from it. And I know there is absolutely nothing I can do about the exam now. Moving forward, I have to remind myself to take time off from other responsibilities such as work or my hobbies to study more and to focus on my school first. Being as it is my last semester, every grade matters and gets me one step closer to my diploma. If you can’t fix it, then think about what you can change the next time around.

SHOP THE LOOK

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Break down on life before life breaks down on you. Know when to give yourself a moment to breathe, when to move on from things bringing you down and to reorganize your priorities so you aren’t stressing out too much. There is always improvements to be made and that’s why it’s so important to take a step back to ask yourself “what’s really important right now?”. Motivation and inspiration came back after re-evaluating. I was excited again to sit down and write this post. I couldn’t type fast enough to get all of my thoughts out! So I hope you enjoyed this post and it pushed you to let go of something little today to focus more on yourself. Take time off to rebalance and reevaluate your life.

A million and one thanks for reading today — until my next lil’ thought then!

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14 Comments

Wow what a great reminder! Sometimes I think it can become easy to get caught up in this work, work, work mode at not stop to take a breather. Often I find myself feeling guilty if I take a break! Beautiful photos, Jen!

Couldn’t agree more with you when it comes to spreading oneself too thin. I definitely did that in the last leg of my career. I recently left the government to pursue a more creative marketing position in LA and the time I had off from that hectic world I left behind was medicine for my soul. I was able to be more creative and really focus on what I want, which has brought me countless measures of success (in terms of my blog, relationships and new discoveries). I also get overwhelmed with the thought of leaving my blog untouched for a day and with the same questions – will my readers drop off? Will I lose the reliability of my agenda I’ve set with my readers? But alas, you finding that folks were still visiting your blog while you were away for a week goes to show that a valued experience is MORE than quantity.

Hey Jess! Thank you so much for taking the time to read my blog. And I totally agree–I am in my last semester of college and it’s been really stressful to make sure I am choosing the right career path. To hear that you are able to go after what you love is so encouraging and inspiring!
xx jen

Lovely read dear, and I couldn’t agree more. Taking a time off is important for almost anything in life. It rejuvenates not just your body, but more importantly, the spirit. Anyway, love your cozy and cute look with that beanie and sweater.

About Me

Hi! I am Jenny, Jen for short. I am a self-proclaimed foodie, fashionista and lipstick and mascara addict living in NYC. I have a love for free-writing and an obsession for taking pictures to document my life, which together gave birth to this blog. Here you will find a compilation of my random lil' thoughts and pictures. Currently, I am looking forward to exploring NYC for more yummy eats and pics, finding some good laughs and especially grasping for more time to finish what I've been procrastinating and to nap :)